Sheffield United: Wilder issues Rochdale war cry

Chris Wilder has admitted Sheffield United faces a test of character against Rochdale tomorrow after outlining plans to sign up to four new players.

Wilder’s team enters the meeting with Keith Hill’s side searching for its first win of the League One season following a 1-0 defeat at Bolton Wanderers last weekend.

Having also been knocked-out of the EFL Cup by Crewe Alexandra, the United manager backed his squad to arrest its disappointing run of results but said: “I’ve overcome every hurdle that’s been put in front of me as a manager. I’ve taken on challenges and difficult jobs. We knew this wouldn’t be plain sailing and this is the first bump. But we have to show the b******s to get over it. Show strong character. That’s part of being a good footballer, being a good team and being a good group.”

Wilder led Northampton Town to promotion from League Two earlier this year despite a financial crisis at Sixfields. He has signed seven players since taking charge of United but wants to make further reinforcements. Talks with several Premier League clubs about potential loan agreements are known to have taken place.

Wilder added: “We’ve talked about what we’ve done and where we can improve. Off the pitch, I recognise there’s still work to be done. If you come to our house, there’s 50,000 pieces of paper flying about with different names on. The group, the team, is not where I want it to be. But it would have been pretty naive of me to think, at this stage, that it would be. Even if we’d have got a result at Bolton, it wouldn’t have changed my opinion on that. There’s definitely areas we have identified.”